Georgia-Pacific sponsors local teachers for STEM, civil, and economic programs
Georgia-Pacific recently recognized teachers from Mayo High School for MST for being selected to attend teachers programs this summer. Pictured in front from left: teachers Ruth Taylor and Kelly Long; GP human resources generalist Lauwana Wilson; teachers Dianne Layne Smith and Jill Knight; from back left: GP team member and
Mayo High School for MST graduate Ashley Black; and GP plant director Mike Griffith
Photo contributed
Four teachers from Mayo High School for Math, Science & Technology have been selected by Georgia-Pacific to attend teacher’s programs that focus on developing science, technology, environmental and math (STEM) skills, and learning in economic and civil liberties.
Kelly Long, a biology and anatomy teacher, and Ruth Taylor, a chemistry and ecology teacher, will attend Keystone Science School’s 2016 Key Issues Institute: Bringing Environmental Issues to the Classroom, this summer in Silverthorne, Colorado. Long and Taylor are two of 17 teachers sponsored to attend Key Issues from Georgia-Pacific’s facility communities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New York, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
Held every June and July, the Key Issues program brings together K-12 educators from around the world for a highly interactive four and a half-day workshop. The program is designed to help teachers of all subjects build students’ critical thinking skills while also reinforcing teachers’ confidence and skills in bringing environmental issues and STEM-based principles into the classroom. Teachers work in teams to solve “real-life” scenarios such as investigating the source of a town’s health epidemic, testing water quality of a nearby river and building a sustainable cable-car model. Teachers bring home lesson plans and lab kits to apply what they’ve learned to their local classrooms.
“Georgia-Pacific is proud to support educators by helping them highlight important environmental issues in engaging and creative ways,” said Mike Griffith, director of Georgia-Pacific’s Darlington Dixie plant. “The Keystone Science School program gives teachers the chance to learn about environmental issues first-hand and it also provides tools they can use to share these important lessons with the students in our local community year after year.”
Dianna Layne Smith, a geography, psychology, economics and government teacher, and Jill Knight, a social studies, U.S. history, economics and government teacher, were selected to attend the Bill of Rights Institute’s “2016 Founders Fellowship” program July 25-29 in Washington, D.C. They are two of 12 teachers who were selected from Georgia-Pacific’s facility communities across Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
Founders Fellowship provides teachers with training and tools to educate students about America’s founders, their ideals and economic and civil liberties. Aimed at civics, history, government and economics teachers, one of the Founders Fellowship program’s goals is to help students understand the Constitution and the freedoms and opportunities it provides.
“Understanding and appreciating economics and entrepreneurship is a critical part of our education system and Georgia-Pacific Foundation is committed to supporting programs that promote these principals,” said Curley Dossman, president of the Georgia-Pacific Foundation. “The Founders Fellowship program strives to help educators simplify these complex concepts and bring them to life for students when they return to their classrooms.”
The conference offers lectures by constitutional scholars and will explore the liberties of the First Amendment, and participants will also visit historical sites and tour national monuments in the Washington D.C. area.